Chapter 5

“Damn you, Trevor,” she cursed under her breath. Teghan put the last of the empty beer bottles into a garbage bag, tied it and set it outside the door. She put the pizza box and the wrappers from the snacks in the trash cans in the garage before locking the front door and shutting off the lights. Despite everything she’d said to Trevor earlier, there was no way she’d let him get caught or face their parents alone, which is why she was the one cleaning up while he snored on the couch.

She walked into the kitchen and stopped. The stench of vomit filled the room and made her gag. “He is so gonna owe me for this.” Teghan grabbed a roll of paper towels from the counter, coiled half the roll around her hand, and kneeled in front of the chunky mess. “Uh, this is so gross.” She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“Want some help?”

His soft voice cracked through the silence like a thunderclap. “Jesus Christ,” Teghan gasped, falling back onto her haunches. “You scared the hell outta me.”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said. Donnie kneeled next to her, the other half of the paper towel roll in his hand.

Teghan covered her nose with her arm and watched as Donnie cleaned up the vomit. “I’m gonna kill Trevor,” she said.

“He did this?”

“I don’t know who did this.” She nodded towards the vomit. “But if he hadn’t had this party…”

Donnie laughed. “You have to admit it was fun.”

Teghan gave him a cock-eyed look. “Yeah, cleaning puke is exactly how I like to spend my Friday night. It doesn’t bother you, does it?”

“Not really.” He shrugged. “After my dad left, my mom started hitting the bottle pretty hard. I got a crash course in vomit removal.”

“Oh,” Teghan said. She chewed on her bottom lip, thinking of what to say to him next. Bonding over puke. Nice, Teghan, real nice.

“No biggie. She’s been in recovery for almost eight years now. That’s what matters.”

“Good for her,” she said with a smile.

“It’s obvious that this really bothers you though. Let me take care of it,” he said. “Get me the trash can?”

Teghan got up, grabbed a trash bag, and held it open for Donnie to throw the soiled towels into. After putting the bag in the garage, she returned to the kitchen to find Donnie washing his hands. She leaned against the door frame and watched him. “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem.” He dried his hands. “Is there anything else I can help with?”

She surveyed the kitchen and decided the few dirty dishes could wait until morning. “I don’t think so.”

Donnie turned around and leaned up against the sink. “Got a mop?”

“In the utility closet,” she said, pointing towards the tall thin door next to the refrigerator. Teghan watched as Donnie mopped the floor. She had to be dreaming. Trevor had never been this willing to help her clean up. Neither had Alex, for that matter. Why the hell was Donnie? Who cares why? Just shut up and enjoy it. If he’s willing to do this now, imagine what he’d be willing to do for you if he was your boyfriend.

She felt like a jerk standing around watching him clean when just moments earlier she’d been cursing Trevor for leaving it all to her. Teghan moved to the sink and began to fill it with hot, soapy water. One by one, she scrubbed the glasses and forks clean. All of her senses were on high alert. His cologne tickled her nose; with each forward push of the mop, his otherwise light breathing increased. From the corner of her eye, she could see his muscles rippling beneath his tee shirt as he moved the mop back and forth across the floor.

Her mind flashed back to the way his hard body had felt against her, the way he’d held her so close. In that brief moment she’d felt safer than she’d ever felt in Alex’s arms. A wave of heat engulfed her body. She opened the window above the sink. The cool night breeze caressed her face, dropping her body temperature a few degrees.

“I’d suggest opening a couple more windows to air it out in here,” Donnie said.

Teghan cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah, of course.” She continued to wash what remained of the glasses, refusing to acknowledge that Donnie was now standing behind her. It was working. Until she felt his hand on her hip.

She managed to keep her breathing steady, too. Until she felt him gather her hair into his hand and trail his lips down her neck. Her fingers curled around the edge of the sink, her body frozen, yet burning with need as he nibbled and bit, his teeth sending shivers down her arms.

“Donnie,” she whimpered. “Please don’t do this again.”

“Do what?” His mouth tugged on her earlobe.

Teghan shrugged him off and took a few steps away. She stared at him for a brief moment before walking out of the kitchen and towards the backyard. Why did his touch have the ability to frazzle her like it did? And why couldn’t she let herself enjoy the feelings he caused? There was no denying that she craved them.

“Teghan,” Donnie said.

She turned to look at him. “What?”

Donnie walked up to her. “Why do you keep running from me? What are you so damned afraid of?” He followed her gaze towards the two-person swing. “So this is about Alex?”

“It’s always about Alex,” she said. Teghan kicked off her sandals, sat down beside the waterfall, and put her feet in the water.

Donnie followed her. “What the hell does that mean?” He toed off his shoes, sat beside her, and dipped his feet in the warm water.

Without answering, Teghan averted her eyes and stared at their feet. She noticed Donnie’s second toe was much longer than his big toe. His fourth toe and pinky toe were not completely split; instead they were shaped much like a capital Y. This little imperfection made him more attractive to her and in a strange way it comforted her to know that he wasn’t as perfect as he appeared.

“Teghan?” He gently nudged her.

“Things with Alex are…complicated.” She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before looking once again at the swing. Alex was curled around Beth’s half naked body, his arm draped over her stomach, his hand tucked under her shirt gripping her bra less boob.

“That bothers you doesn’t it?” Donnie asked, nodding his head towards Alex.

She shrugged. “No reason it should.”

“But it does,” he pressed.

She swallowed hard. “Yes, it does.”

Donnie put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “For what it’s worth, Alex still loves you.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” she said dryly.

“I asked him what he was going to do when you started seeing someone. He refused to talk about it.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Alex and I have become pretty close in a very short period of time, and I know that if he weren’t drunk, he’d be the one sitting here, not me.”

“No.” Teghan shook her head. “He wouldn’t. Alex and I are over. That’s not going to change.”

“I’m sure that’s true.” Donnie closed his eyes and Teghan felt him inhale the scent of her hair. He pulled her a little closer. “Just go easy on him tomorrow.”

Teghan sat up and moved away from him. “Why?” she snapped. “I don’t get you. One minute you’re coming on to me, kissing me and now you’re trying to push me back to Alex.” What was his deal? Did he change his mind? That thought startled her. She wanted Donnie to want her. It was exciting being chased by a guy like him.

Donnie reached for her, pulling her back into his arms. She didn’t resist. “I like Alex. He’s a good guy, and deserves to be happy. It’s obvious you, your family, your friends…that’s what makes him happy.”

“I get that,” Teghan said defensively, sitting up. “You just don’t understand.”

“So help me understand.”

“What’s the point?” she muttered. Teghan sniffled as tears began to trickle down her face. She wiped them away with the back of her hand.

Donnie put his arm around Teghan again. She buried her face in his chest and cried. The way he held her, stroked her hair, and kissed the top of her head was comforting. It had been a long time since anyone had held her, and man, how she’d missed it. She liked the attention of a man. She wanted a man to spoil her, love her.

Teghan inhaled sharply. “Everyone thinks I’m a cold heartless bitch for breaking up with Alex. They think I don’t know. But I do. I know more than any of them do. And it hurt me, too. I cried…” She sighed and wiped away more tears. “I cried for him every night.”

“Know what?” Donnie asked softly.

“Alex is a genius. Literally. He has an IQ of 160.”

“I had no idea.”

She smiled. “Not many people do. He doesn’t like that about himself. He says it makes him an outcast.”

“Why? If he’s that smart, there are so many options for him.”

“Yeah, if his father hadn’t gambled away his college fund.”

“What?” Donnie asked, his eyes widening with shock.

Teghan nodded. “Yup. I’ll never forget the day he found out. It was a Friday afternoon. Annabelle, Trevor, and I were here getting ready to spend the weekend hiking and camping in the mountains when he showed up. At first he was so angry, but eventually he broke down and told me. He’d received early acceptance into Harvard. All he had to do was pay the deposit. That’s when his father told him.”

“Damn, that’s harsh.”

“It was the first time I’d ever seen him cry. He kept apologizing to me for being a failure, for not being able to get the education he needed to eventually support me,” Teghan said. “Alex is a planner,” she explained. “Always has been.”

“Well CIT is no Harvard, but it’s a good school,” Donnie said.

“CIT wasn’t Alex’s choice. It was my father’s.”

Donnie adjusted himself so he could look at Teghan. “What?”

“Alex made a deal with my father. In exchange for my dad paying Alex’s tuition, Alex will work at my dad’s law firm once he graduates.”

“Oh,” was all Donnie could say.

“You see? When I broke up with Alex, him, Trevor, all our friends blamed me for ruining his future. They all believed that because Alex and I were no longer together, my father would back out on his end of the deal.”

“But he didn’t, did he?” Teghan shook her head no. “Wait. If Alex is so smart, why didn’t he get a free ride?”

“He did. He refused it.”

“Why in the hell would he do that?”

Teghan shrugged. “He doesn’t want people to know how smart he is. He felt that taking a scholarship would be like announcing it to the world. He said he’d rather flip burgers for a living than accept an academic scholarship.”

“Smart people have no common sense.”

Teghan smacked him. “That’s horrible. Besides, I think he didn’t want anyone to know his family was on the verge of bankruptcy. He was embarrassed. Can’t blame him. I would be too.”

“I may not know a lot about Alex, but I do know that he’d rather have you as a friend than not have you in his life at all. Despite what he says, he forgives you, Teghan.”

“You really think so?”

“Yes,” he said. “That’s why you need to go easy on him. He’s only trying to make you happy.”

“By getting involved with my friend?” she asked, her voice turning angry.

“No. By doing what you asked him to do.”

“It’s not supposed to be this hard,” Teghan said.

“It always is when family is involved.”

“Well at times like this, I wish my family wasn’t so damned close.”

Donnie cupped her face in his hands. “Don’t say things like that, Teghan. Ever.”

“Why?” The confusion she felt was evident by her tone.

He dropped his hands from her face and looked down for a brief moment. “I grew up with very little family. My sperm donor of a father walked out of my life when I was seven. And for the longest time it was just me and my mom, until her alcoholism became unbearable for me. That’s when her brother came to live with us.” Donnie paused and licked his lips. “He was like a father to me.”

“Was?”

“Yeah. He died a year ago.”

“I’m sorry.” Teghan cleared her throat.

Donnie smiled. “I’d give anything to have the family you’ve got.” He reached up and caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Nothing should come before your family, Teghan, and Alex is a part of this family.”

“I know,” she whispered with trembling lips.

“I think that’s why I’m having such a hard time trying to figure out what to do about us.”

Teghan moved away from him. “There is no us, Donnie. And there never can be.”

“Why not?”

She looked at Alex then back at Donnie. Yeah, why not? Alex was moving on. There’s no reason you can’t do the same. And if Alex could do it with a friend of yours, then there’s no reason you can’t do it with his roommate.

“Take a look around, Teghan. There’s no one listening, no one watching, no one waiting to interrupt us. It’s just you and me. We’ve been honest with each other up to this point. Why stop now?” Donnie took his feet out of the water, framed her face with his hands again, and brought his mouth down over hers, parting her lips, and with slow, deliberate flicks of his tongue, he stole her breath. He kissed her bottom lip, taking it into his mouth, nipping at it with his teeth before letting it go and grazing his lips back and forth over hers.

“Now tell me,” he whispered. “Why can’t this happen?” His lips tickled hers as he spoke. “We both want it to.”

Teghan’s lips were still slightly parted, inviting him, begging him for another taste as she fought to open her eyes. Forget breathing—she didn’t remember how. And forming a coherent thought—forget that too.

“It’s complicated,” she finally managed to say before she took her feet out of the water and stood.

Donnie was on his feet after her. “What’s so complicated about it?”

“I dated Alex for three and a half years. He’s…” She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at the concrete beneath her wet, cold feet. “He’s the only guy I’ve ever been with,” she muttered.

He lifted her chin so that they were face to face. “Is that what this is about? You’re scared?”

“I’m not scared,” she said, sticking her chin out defiantly.

A slow smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Teghan,” he said. He pinched the fabric of her dress between his thumb and forefinger and gently tugged at it. She willingly stepped into his arms. “We can take this as slow as you want.”

She put her hands on his chest and looked up under her lashes. Why did she have to want him so much? Why couldn’t she just walk away? It was the smart thing to do, she knew that. “You scare me.”

“What?”

Teghan chewed her bottom lip. “I mean, you don’t scare me. Not really. The way you make me feel scares me.”

“And how do I make you feel?” he asked.

Teghan froze at the feel of Donnie placing his hand on her thigh. He dragged his fingertips up her leg and around to her ass. She quivered beneath his touch.

“I know you want this as much as I do,” he whispered. Donnie pressed his lips to the soft, warm flesh of her neck. Teghan sucked in her breath and held it as he planted exquisite, lingering kisses on her. She let her head fall back to her shoulders. His touch was sheer magnetism, drawing her deeper to him, destroying her self-control.

“Tell me, Teghan,” he demanded. “Tell me you don’t want this.” He nibbled on her earlobe. His lips worked across her jaw towards her mouth. “Tell me you don’t want me.”

“Donnie,” she whimpered before he could kiss her.

He nipped at her bottom lip. “All you have to do is say it. Tell me to stop and I give you my word I will.” His lips were on her neck again, kissing, licking, caressing, driving her crazy with sensations she’d never felt before.

Teghan drew a ragged breath. She’d never experienced anything so erotic, so tempting. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind what she wanted.

“Stop,” she breathed. “Please. Stop.”